First of all, I would like to welcome everyone here, students from different Georgian higher education institutions gathered in the yard of the Ozurgeti Justice House.

I welcome the residents of Ozurgeti.

I will never forget our meetings, especially the last one, when we opened this house and the hospitals.

I would like to greatly thank the local society for their support, as well as all the residents of all the regions Georgia, for the support they have expressed.

I would like to thank the residents of Batumi and Keda, who had lined up and waited for hours right in the roads during Hilary Clinton’s visit, to express their generosity and hospitality.

It indeed came from their heart. I thank them for such great enthusiasm.

I thank the residents of Kutaisi as tens of thousands of people came out for the May 26 parade.

I would like to thank them for the demonstrated enthusiasm, support, wisdom, foresightedness.

Personally, I of course, will never forget this.

I would like to thank you for arriving and being present at the presentation of the student’s cards. Students are those principal people, for whom we all are trying to deliver results.

We are trying to change this country together with your participation.

With your help we are trying to improve tomorrow.

You know that we have launched the student’s employment program, in which 25 thousands students have registered.

We will expand this program even further next year and about 40 thousand students will be able to participate.

We want to know their exact number right number, as we intend to work with employers throughout the whole year.

I would like announce that the 25 thousand students, who wish to participate in this program next year, will be able to register this year and this number will increase by 15-20 thousand students.

Thus, it is already guaranteed for the employment program, that these students will be involved in the employment program next year as well.

Besides, if the bulk of employers are still state institutions this year, the majority will be from the business sector next year.

This is the second item that we are introducing, the student’s card – actually, it will be a Georgian ID card, which will have “Student” written on it.  As soon as the word “Student” is written on the ID card, it will bring about magical results.

I will just tell you about the results that this student’s card will provide for you.

First of all, I would like to tell you that if this card costs 35 GEL for ordinary citizens, it will be free of charge for all students.

If a student has a car or the parent or sister or brother, who will lend them a car, they will receive a driver’s license for 15 GEL instead of 50.

You will have significant discounts on railway service in Georgia from the moment you get this card; you will be able to legalize documents in the Justice house as well.

You will have 50 percent discounts in theaters and museums; you will get a 70 percent discount on Gudauri ski passes.

The 60 percent discount is already in force for Tbilisi transport and it will be integrated into this as well.

You will have a 20 percent discount on the educational courses of the Ministry of Finance’s Academy, 40 percent discount to enter the protected territories and in getting service there; you will have a special tariff from “Beeline”, “Geocell”, in the clothes stores; you will get 20 percent discount on the “Aqua park” entrance fee – there is the best aqua park across all of Europe being opened in Anaklya and you will be able to enter it with a 70 percent discount.

In a nutshell, the student’s card will contain many privileges and you are moving into this privileged category from this day forward.

The second thing that is important with regard to students, you might know that we are introducing a new system in the higher state institution.

According to today’s system, if a student does not get proper scores and due to the family conditions or certain reasons will not receive funding, they are forced to study in the paid sector for four years.

We will give them a chance every year to pass the exams again, improve their results and get 100 percent funding to study in the higher state institutions.

Likewise, we are negotiating with private higher institutions, so that they promote students as much as possible.

You perhaps know that we are moving the unified national exams to schools beginning next year. The issue of exams has been politicized and some parents were even nervous in that regard, but we will conduct the unified national exams very well this year.

The unified national exams have been one of our main achievements in the educational sphere, but every success needs to be expanded and carried on.

We had such ruined schools then that we could not hold anything in those buildings. That is why we separated the higher institutions entry exams, so that the exams were separated from schools.

There are servers installed in 1500 schools by now. The level of education has been significantly raised at schools, we already have several thousand certified teachers with high qualification and others are passing exams as well, to raise qualification.

The officers have entered the schools this year and last year. Schools have become safe and it is already possible to maintain discipline.

That is why, already this year there will be one important change – one and same person used to correct the work and respond to appeals during the national exams, so there was a minimal chance of win the appeal and revise the score, it will no longer be the case this year.

As for the next year, national exams are already to be held at schools. Thus, there will be a general skills test added to the 8 school exams and it will give applicants a ticket to enter the higher educational institutions.

This is fair.

You know well that many of you used tutors for the national exams. In this case, social justice is being violated, if you need a tutor, this means that one program was taught at school and there was another one at the unified national exams.

The youth should be able to pass the university exams with the knowledge acquired at school. That is what we are asking for.

Moreover, we plan to introduce scholarships next year for the skilled students from the regions, so that they are able to travel to Tbilisi, Batumi, or for instance to Kutaisi and we should even rent a residence, if a person does a good job on the exams.

This also is a moment of social justice.

When I said that we would no longer need tutors in schools, one lady wrote me on Facebook: it has been three years that my child goes to the tutor and you will not make to refuse it, now you want to fill the university with fools.

Godspeed Mrs.! If you have money, spend as you wish! It’s not that we want to fill universities with fools– rather with skilled, but socially vulnerable students, as justice predicates that first of all facilitation necessitates those people who are most in need, so that they are able to move forward in life.

Those who think that this life only belongs to them should know that it is not like that – this has ended in Georgia. It will no longer be like that.

This life belongs to all of us, the whole of Georgia and it is very important, as no matter how much I speak about being on the same road as Hong Kong and Singapore, including in the education sphere, I know very well that people in Georgia have hardship.

I am the one who knows it best. That is why I have called the student’s cards privileges, as I know how important it is for each one of you.

For instance, you will be able to go to the movies for 5 GEL instead of 15 and it is a big relief. Besides, you will be presenting the students card with pride.

The whole essence is that this element of justice has to be introduced by all means, and we have to surely give everyone an opportunity to build their career, study better at the university and move forward.   

If no one had studied in the 9^th, 10^th, 11^th grades at school before, while no one went to school in the 12^th grade at all, when we have introduced exams into the schools, children have returned to schools.

We have to give them an opportunity now to be entirely concentrated on a school and no longer think about preparing elsewhere with other programs.

This is what we want to introduce.

At the same time, we need to introduce all international certificates in Georgia. This means that a person should have an opportunity to apply throughout the entire year.

The examination center had only worked in summer before, now if you fail to pass once, you will still be able to take the exam in November, January.

We should permanently give people an opportunity to take exams over again.

One more thing – it cost 40 GEL before to take the unified national exams and this amount was not refundable. Unfortunately, it will still be the case this year as well.

These exams will be free of charge from next year.

This is another small social concession for our people to improve their lives by a little and to use this 40 GEL for something more useful. 

Now, I would like to hand the first student’s cards to you today, on June 11 in Ozurgeti – now hit the movies, libraries, different media outlets, railway, especially now that we need less than 4 hours to go from Tbilisi to Batumi.

In short, make use of everything, while you are young; enjoy your student years as much as possible and those privileges and opportunities, which this status grants you.

Being a student begins to bear a privileged status in Georgia.

I would like to announce one more thing – every pupil in Georgia will receive school diplomas in these Justice Houses very soon.

 Hilary Clinton was also astonished by our Justice Houses, when Giorgi Vashadze gave her a short tour in this service center. As soon as the meeting was over, she herself gave a tour of the Justice House to the members of the American delegation and explained what she had learned from Giorgi few hours before, besides she added that there is nothing like it in the U.S., it is stunning.

It is at this stunning place that we are making the presentation – here, in the Justice House, where everything is being done.

Likewise, I would like to tell the people of Guria that our main treasure Bakhmaro, will become so beautiful this year that everyone will be stunned. 

Thank you very much.